Times Change
by OnOctoberNights
Summary: All OC's Rorrie Ritter and Howl have just been accepted into Hogwarts. But before they can begin their wonderful journey, Rorrie's dad assigns Howl to be Rorrie's "guard". He must protect her, and her secret at all costs, a secret she doesn't even know.


**_A/N: THIS IS MY FIRST FAN FICTION...SINCE I WAS 8. but i never uploaded it cuz' it was really bad..._**

**_this is all original characters except for the mentioning of Harry and the others, and McGonagall is still here. This also takes place after the war and after Harry has kids and his kids have left Hogwarts...not really a specific time...but lets just say 30 years after the war. yea...that sounds good. :P The start of the story is in the Great Hall area where the first years get sorted, fyi so you location etc. _**

**_HARRY POTTER DOES NOT BELONG TO ME (sadly) BELONGS TO THE BELOVED J., ALONG WITH THE HP CHARACTERS._**

**_Rorrie Ritter, Howl and the other students belong to me. _**

**_PLEASE ENJOY AND COMMENT! creative criticism please!_**

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><p><em> Oh crap….holly crap…just when I thought all was going fine….I can't find him! I need his hand…where is it.<em>

I can hardly stand up, hardly breath, can't even think anything except for 'where is he'! I clench my baggy grey pants and look around. It is dangerous without him with me. I could get hurt…he could get hurt! People are going to hurt us! My knees start to shake but before I fall to the ground; a warm, familiar feeling surrounds me. My vision comes back to me and I see olive hands around my torso holding me up from falling.

"Rorrie," Howl whispers in my ear. "You're going to be fine. We're okay here, it is safe," he turns me around and hugs me. "We are safe here." I look up at him; he is at least a foot taller than me. His long, shaggy ash blonde hair is in his eyes. "I know we are," I say, brushing his hair behind his ear so I could see his golden eyes. But then a sudden wave of fear washes over me as I hear my name being called from the Professor. I turn around to look at the front of the hall, where the sorting takes place. The professor, as we have learned is named Professor Minerva McGonagall. She stood next to a wooden stool where the students sat, with the sorting hat in her hand and a list of new students in the other. There is a silence as everyone looks around, waiting for the student, me, to come forward.

" Ritter," calls the Professor again, with a more curious tone to her voice.

I turn back to Howl, "Stay with me," I ask him, looking up with pleading eyes. "Forever," he says. He grips my hand harder and pulls me through the crowd of first year students who have not yet been sorted.

"Thank you sir," began Professor McGonagall, "you may go back now."

"No!" I shout. The Professor leaned in towards me slightly abashed from being yelled at by a first year. "He stays with me; please." I realize I was shaking hard, so does Howl. He steady's me by putting his arm around my shoulder.

"Alright, if it is necessary." She looks at me with a worried expression. "It is." I reply, a little harshly.

"Fine then, please be seated," she orders, and points at the stool. I sit down, still holding onto Howl's hand. The sorting hat is placed on my head, it sags over my eyes so I can barely see; but I do hear laughter coming from the students in front of me. I blush.

"Hmmmm. Very strange. Ms. Rorrie Ritter what in the world are you?" questions the hat on my head.

"What am I? Well I'm a girl you see." I reply very matter-of-factly; gaining more confidence every second.

"A girl, really who would have gathered that? A girl wearing a boy's uniform? Boy's hair? The only way someone could tell you are a girl is that your friend over here is constantly thinking it!"

There were murmurs all around the hall of "that's a girl?" "Really wouldn't have imagined it!" and "who's that with her?"

"Well, MISS. Rorrie Ritter," begins the hat, with an emphasis on the miss part.

"You've been through quite a lot," sneers the enchanted hat, looking deep into my thoughts and my mind. "Those sorts of things can't be unseen. Events like that could make a person do terrible things, become terrible things. What will happen to you?" he interrogates again, making me cringe.

"She will become a great person I assure you!" shouts Howl at the hat. "And she will do great things."

The Sorting Hat seemed to be taken a back at this comment. "Will she? And what makes you say this? Is it the fact that she is brave, courageous, or that she cares only for others?"

"And more," growls Howl.

"So we have established you have great pride in your friend here, but what about you?" asks the hat to Howl.

"You've seen just as bad. You may become worse, just as your friend might. But then again, you've done more than enough to prove yourself. You do more than protect your friends, but what secrets are lurking in your mind?" the hat continues to dig deeper into Howl, but Howl remains like a stone, his eye's glazing over. "You have both had your share of hardships, bad enough to turn the purest soul foul. But your hearts are in the right place, even if your mind wavers. You both are brave and strong and care only for others. I have made my decision. You both belong in,"

There is a sudden silence across the hall. People are muttering more, one student stands up and shouts, "Well spit it out then!"

"Fine, GRYFFINDOR!" the amount of applause from the Gryffindor table is incredible and deafening. The hat is taken off of my head and Howl and I walk towards the table filled with cheering students and red and gold banners hanging above them. Before we get there, there is a call from the professor again.

"WAIT!" We stop in our tracks and turn around in unison. "We still need your brother's name." she says. Howl looks up at her and says, "My name is Howl. I am not Rorrie's brother but her," he stops and blushes, and there is a call again from the Gryffindor table.

"Who then? Her boyfriend!" shouts out a slytherin. "No." says Howl firmly. "I am her best friend and her guard, for lack of a better term." He says to the student and the professor. "That is all fine, but Mr. Howl we still need to know, what is your sir name?" asks the professor again. "I don't wish to give it, may we leave it at that?" requests Howl, he golden eyes piercing the Professors. "Fair enough Howl. You both may be seated." she waves her hand in dismissal and smiles "Welcome aboard."

There is another uproar from the Gryffindor table, the boy who had called out to the hat waved his hand and shouted, "hey, you two, sit here!" he pointed to two empty spaces next to him. Howl looks at me and I nod in approval. We walk over to him, the cheering dimming down.

"My name is Brian. That was quite a show you two put on. Probably the most intense sorting since Mr. Harry Potter and his children! Those were pretty epic. But I do say, yours was the strangest. So, what did you say your name was Missy?" he asked. He talked so fast that I was only able to catch his question and his name.

"M-m-my name is R-Ror-Rorrie." I stuttered to him in a whisper. Howl wrapped his arm around my shoulder and glared at Brian.

"Nice to meet you Rorrie! Your guard dog here doesn't seem so pleased though." He chuckled looking at Howl.

He put his hand out for me to shake it, but Howl took it instead. He grabbed it tightly and said "Don't get so friendly, Mr. Brian." Brian glared back and squeezed Howl's hand equally as hard. "You make friends by being friendly Mr. Howl. Unless you tend to keep lovely Miss Rorrie to yourself, you better let her speak for herself." He leaned over and winked at me, then back to Howl. "Savey?" Howl murmured complaints under his breath and I told him that it was okay and not to get angry, he calmed down a tad bit and sighed.

"Well sit down will you! You don't plan on standing while eating do ya'?" Right as Brian said this, food magically appeared before us. Not just any meal though, it was a feast. A welcome feast.

It was the first time, in a long time that a welcome had felt so nice and well…welcoming. Let's just hope this welcome stays friendly. Let's just hope people don't find out.


End file.
